Before Boas

The Genesis of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment

The history of anthropology has been written from multiple viewpoints, often from perspectives of gender, nationality, theory, or politics. Before Boas delves deeper into issues concerning anthropology’s academic origins to present a groundbreaking study that reveals how ethnography and ethnology originated during the eighteenth rather than the nineteenth century, developing parallel to anthropology, or the “natural history of man.”

Han F. Vermeulen explores primary and secondary sources from Russia, Germany, Austria, the United States, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, and Great Britain in tracing how “ethnography” originated as field research by German-speaking historians and naturalists in Siberia (Russia) during the 1730s and 1740s, was generalized as “ethnology” by scholars in Göttingen (Germany) and Vienna (Austria) during the 1770s and 1780s, and was subsequently adopted by researchers in other countries.

Before Boas argues that anthropology and ethnology were separate sciences during the Age of Reason, studying racial and ethnic diversity, respectively. Ethnography and ethnology focused not on “other” cultures but on all peoples of all eras. Following G. W. Leibniz, researchers in these fields categorized peoples primarily according to their languages. Franz Boas professionalized the holistic study of anthropology from the 1880s into the twentieth century.

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Series Editors’ Introduction

1. History and Theory of Anthropology and Ethnology: Introduction

2. Theory and Practice: G. W. Leibniz and the Advancement of Science in Russia

3. Enlightenment and Pietism: D. G. Messerschmidt and the Early Exploration of Siberia

4. Ethnography and Empire: G. F. Müller and the Description of Siberian Peoples

5. Anthropology and the Orient: C. Niebuhr and the Danish-German Arabia Expedition

6. From the Field to the Study: A. L. Schlözer and the German Invention of Völkerkunde

7. Anthropology in the German Enlightenment: Plural Approaches to Human Diversity

8. Epilogue: Reception of the German Ethnographic Tradition

Conclusion

Notes

References Cited

Index

Han F. Vermeulen is an alumnus of Leiden University, the Netherlands, and a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), Germany.

"A short review cannot do justice to the sophistication of the author's comprehensive and remarkable research, which departs from histories that view the origins of anthropology in classical Greece or Renaissance exploration."—Riva Berleant-Schiller, CHOICE

Riva Berleant-Schiller
CHOICE

"Vermeulen's monograph on the "genesis" of ethnography and ethnology will sit as a large and imposing bookend on any history of anthropology shelf for many years to come."—Huon Wardle, American Anthropologist

Huon Wardle
American Anthropologist

"This important book rewrites the early history of anthropology in new and surprising ways."—James Urry, Australian Journal of Anthropology

James Urry
Australian Journal of Anthropology

"Before Boas represents a major contribution to the history of anthropology that must be taken into serious consideration by every scholar in our field."—Sergei Kan, Ethnohistory

Sergei Kan
Ethnohistory

"Deserving to be called a sensation."—Horst Bredekamp, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Horst Bredekamp
Süddeutsche Zeitung

"This is a unique and detailed study of the eighteenth century origins of ethnology or ethnography that offers a new insight in reexamining the scope and subject matter of these disciplines in their earlier stages."—Madhuvanti Karyekar, Museum Anthropology Review

Madhuvanti Karyekar
Museum Anthropology Review

"Before Boas will grow in importance with the elapsing of time. Certainly, it will become soon a landmark (if it has not become yet) and will definitively consecrate Han F. Vermeulen as a prominent specialist in this fascinating academic field."—Gheorghita Geana, Anuac

Gheorghita Geana
Anuac

"This rich book will be useful to researchers concerned with ethnography, anthropology, folklore, the history of science, and postcolonial and whiteness studies. By showing how the world’s peoples were placed on the scholarly agenda, Before Boas will put scholars in all of these fields on firmer footing."—Stephanie Leitch, ISIS

Stephanie Leitch
ISIS

"A profoundly useful book."—Rachel D. Koroloff, Ab Imperio

Rachel D. Koroloff
Ab Imperio

"The interdisciplinary reach of Before Boas makes it useful to historians, anthropologists and scholars of the Enlightenment."—Nikita Vanderbyl, Journal of Pacific History

Nikita Vanderbyl
Journal of Pacific History

"This highly original and valuable work would be an excellent foundation text for any course on the history of anthropology."—David Shankland, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

David Shankland
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

"Vermeulen has created a wonderful tool for historians, students of the history of collections, and keepers of ethnographical collections."—Jozien J. Driessen van het Reve, Journal of the History of Collections

Jozien J. Driessen van het Reve
Journal of the History of Collections

"Before Boas is a rich and fascinating book, and is a mine of information on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century developments in ethnography and ethnology. The discussion of the Siberian expeditions is particularly revealing, and the comparisons with the 1761–1767 Danish–German expedition to Arabia are instructive in bringing out just how the distinctive the former were in their scientific aims."—Stephen Gaukroger, Intellectual History Review

Stephen Gaukroger
Intellectual History Review

"From Before Boas, we get a picture of the birth of ethnography and ethnology in which observation precedes theory."—Floris Solleveld, History of Humanities

Floris Solleveld
History of Humanities

“This important book introduces the scholarship that underlies the development of modern ethnography and ethnology, especially that of Franz Boas. With exhaustive research Han Vermeulen demonstrates the significance of the German Enlightenment, the ethnolinguistics of Leibniz, and the ethnography of those inspired by Leibniz who undertook scientific descriptions of the peoples of Siberia.”—Herbert S. Lewis, author of In Defense of Anthropology: An Investigation of the Critique of Anthropology